on the broadcast tonight, up for grabs. with no clear front-runner, iowa is a field of dreams, and it's a full court press one week until voters have their say. in the money. what do your family's finances look like? wait until you hear what some members of congress are worth. the gap with the folks back home is growing. trading places. it's what residents in one city are doing to help their friends and neighbors and themselves get through some tough times. and cub scouts. millions around the world check out the web's newest superstar. we're all aboard the polar express. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. brian is off tonight, i'm lester holt. brace for a change of seasons. no sooner do americans ring in the new year and close out the holidays, then the first votes of the 2012 presidential race will be cast. it will happen one week from today. the iowa caucuses will officially kick off the primary season. and for republicans, it's the start of an eight month-long marathon to pick a challenger to president obama. finally after months of polls and paper front-runners, the voters will get their first crack at whittling down the crowded field of candidates, and all roads pass flew iowa, which is where peter alexander starts us off tonight, from des moines. peter? >> reporter: lester, good evening to you. with just one precious week to go before the iowa caulk uses, airwaves are flooded with new

ads. what iowa voters decide to do here next tuesday remains largely unpredictable. the republican presidential candidates returned in force from the christmas holiday today. altogether scheduling more than 20 stops in iowa. with ron paul showing consistent support, and mitt romney investing heavily here, the real battle may be to determine which republican emerges as the conservative choice. >> we need someone who's a proven fighter. >> reporter: michele bachmann, rick santorum, or rick perry. stumping today with controversial arizona sheriff, joe arpaio. >> that's the real deal right there. >> reporter: iowans have been indecisive this year. >> none of these candidates are talking about, america's best days are in front of us, and here's how i'm going to lead us to america's best days. it's harder to get engaged and motivated if you're not enthusiastic. >> reporter: since the summer, seven different republicans have led statewide polls, making candidates hopeful, and explaining the $10 million spending on ads this month alone. most of it has been to attack

the congressional record of the most recent front-runner, newt gingrich, whose support now appears to be fading. another sign of trouble for the former house speaker, conflicting stories about the end of his first marriage. on his campaign website, gingrich claims his first wife asked for the divorce. now, court documents suggest gingrich himself requested the split. also today, romney mocked gingrich for his failure to get on the ballot in his home state of virginia. >> i think you can compare that to pearl harbor. it's more like lucille ball at the chocolate factory. you got to get it organized. >> reporter: this month, romney and romney supporters have spent more than anybody here, targeting gingrich and trying to appeal to the right wing of the party. but the former massachusetts governor has had trouble shaking his moderate record. today conservatives attacked him on the issue of abortion, launching a new text message campaign, citing romney's past prochoice views.

meanwhile, ron paul whose support has been steadiest here sat out today. he arrives tomorrow. also tonight, rick perry has filed a court challenge to have his name added to the virginia ballot, something that could help newt gingrich if that goes in perry's favor. lester? >> peter, walk me through it, the conventional wisdom is, you want to finish in the top three to make it successfully out of iowa. is it conceivable that all of them make it through iowa? or are some in danger of dying on the vine right there? >> reporter: no, i think it seems more and more likely that they all continue past iowa to new hampshire. consider this, rick santorum, who has already visited 99 counties in the state. the only candidate to do that, says he will drop out, pack up and go home if he comes in dead last. that's unlikely to happen when you consider jon huntsman isn't even campaigning in this state. rick perry has enough money that his campaign is confident he can continue well past iowa and new hampshire. and as for newt gingrich, his

campaign is hoping his support coalesces by south carolina, later in the month of january. so it's very possible all candidates leave iowa still in the race. >> and here we go. peter alexander starting us off in iowa. peter, thanks. and from iowa to the hawaiian islands, where president obama is still on his family vacation, and getting some good news about his approval ratings. our white house correspondent kristen welker joins us now from honolulu. good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, lester. well, the white house rarely comments on poll numbers because they're so volatile. but one senior administration official admits, these new numbers are good news heading into the new year. taking a look at monday's daily gallop tracking poll numbers. 47% of american as prove of the job the president is doing, and 45% disapprove. that's a five month high and consistent with multiple polls taken in december. now, a new gallop poll number came out today which actually shows a small decline. what's driving this general uptick?

likely the president's recent victory in the payroll tax cut fight. the unemployment rate, which finally dipped below 9% for the first time in a long time. and a strong holiday shopping season. economists warn while there are positive signs that the economy is improving, the economy is far from healthy. and also instability in europe could derail what's happening here. so while there are some encouraging indicators for the president, there could be set backs as well as you know, republicans have been hammering him on the campaign trail. he has to refight the payroll tax cut debate, and, of course, the unemployment rate will be key to his re-election. lester? >> kristen welker tonight, thank you. one more political note, and it could have a big impact in the balance of power in congress, today nebraska senator ben nelson, a democrat, announced he will not seek re-election in 2012, making it

even harder for democrats to hang on to that senate seat in a heavily republican state. now, top democratic aids tell nbc news that former nebraska senator bob kerrey is now considering getting into the race to replace nelson. and for the latest on all things decision 2012, be sure to bookmark our new site, nbcpolitics.com. it's your one stop shop for arrange the clock political updates. now we turn to a wrenching story, a christmas day house fire in connecticut that killed five members of the same family. three children and their grandparents. and a reminder that these kind of fires peak in the winter months. especially, according to government figures, in this month of december. tonight, officials have revealed the cause of the christmas day fire in connecticut. and nbc's craig melvin has our report. >> reporter: just before 5:00 christmas morning, neighbors heard screams and saw flames shooting from the badger house on shiphand lane. >> there's a huge fire at the house next door to us. the whole house is on fire, a major, major fire, with people

in the house. >> we have the fire department on the way, ma'am. >> please, please come quickly. >> reporter: today firefighters described a frantic scene. 47-year-old madonna badger desperately trying to direct them to the rooms where her family members were trapped. firemen had to drag her away. also today, officials revealed what caused the deadly fire. >> the fire appears to have been caused by hot fireplace ash and embers, which had been discarded. >> reporter: lily badger was 10, twins sarah and grace 7. their grandparents were also killed. johnson, dressed here as santa, didn't just wear the suit for family. this year he worked as st. nick at saks 5th avenue. his body was found on a part of the roof just outside of the window. >> he obviously found one of the young children, because he guided her to the window he went through. we found a little girl just inside that structure, just inside that window that he was outside of.

>> reporter: officials say it's not clear if the home had working smoke detectors, but because of renovations, the badger family should not have been living there. madonna badger and her friend mike borcina are the only survivors. >> you are never prepared for anything like this. it's heartbreaking. our job is to rescue people when they're in danger. you feel like, when you don't make that rescue, that you failed. >> reporter: bulldozers demolished the charred shell of what was once the badger family home. just feet away, a makeshift memorial and a tragic reminder of lives lost on christmas. craig melvin, nbc news, new york. we turn to the economy now. the company that owns sears and kmart said today it will close more than 100 stores after lackluster sales during the holidays. both chains have struggled in recent years as rivals like walmart and target spruced up their stores and drove prices down. and now that all the holiday gifts are unwrapped, tonight a lot of americans are wrapping

them back up, sending those ugly sweaters and knickknacks they'll never use on a one-way trip back to the store. nbc's thanh truong joins us now from a busy ups hub in kentucky, where the return packages are coming fast and furious. thanh, good evening. >> reporter: lester, at this time of the year, ups is delivering 300 packages per second. a lot of those packages, thousands in fact, are on a conveyor belt like this. at this facility alone, they're sorting through 46,000 packages each hour, and it's going to get even busier as more shoppers are saying, send it back. return season is in full swing at ups. the world's largest shipping company, with its signature brown trucks, estimates return shipments will jump nearly 8% from last year. >> people buy a lot of things for christmas, and they turn back around and send them all back. >> reporter: ups attributes the

rise in returns to the spike in online holiday shopping, up 15% this year. the proliferation to smart phones, ipads and wifi literally putting purchasing power in the hands of shoppers. >> with the convenience of being able to order on a saturday or sunday from your couch, you're going to see an increase in those e-commerce sales. >> reporter: online revenue has been steadily growing. more than $44 billion was spent in e-commerce in the christmas season of 2009. that number rose to almost 52 billion in 2010. and forecasters expect this year's online sales to approach $60 billion. free shipping was an even bigger trend this year. nine out of ten retailers, surveyed by the national retail federation, offered free delivery this holiday. for online clothing and shoe seller zap p zappos, it's been banner year. but returns are inevitable. and zappos, which is second only to amazon.com, knows that free return shipping boosts the

bottom line. >> it's important that we have the fast shipping and free returns, because that's what drives our customers to our website. >> reporter: this season of giving now giving way to returns. and to handle all of the holiday rush and the returns, ups hired 55,000 seasonal workers, all the crews are working, getting ready for what ups is calling national returns day, happening exactly one week from today. lester? >> thanh truong, thank you. mixed news today driving the markets after strong retail sales this holiday season, consumer confidence surged to an eight month high. but home prices dropped in major cities. on wall street the dow finished up even, down 2 points. the nasdaq and s&p 500 closed slightly up. tonight, britain's prince phillip has returned to the royal family's country estate after four nights in the hospital, following treatment for a blocked coronary artery. queen elizabeth's 90-year-old husband smiled and waived for the cameras, as reporters and well wishers gathered to see him

off. when nbc nightly news continues on this tuesday evening, the wealthy and the working class. news tonight about where that gap is growing, and who's a big part of that 1%. and later, he might just be the most popular orphan since annie.

we're back now with a growing gap that's gets a lot of attention today in a year where we saw growing outrage of the 99 versus the 1%. tonight, while millions of americans have seen their incomes remain flat and their savings take a big hit in this economy, there's word the opposite is true for members of congress. the overall net worth of lawmakers has grown a lot. and nearly half of all members

are millionaires. what's behind the numbers? here's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. >> reporter: while most americans have gotten poorer in the last few years, a new study finds that members of congress have done quite well. since 2004, the median net worth of members of congress is up 15%, while the median net worth for all americans is down 8%. >> when you have nearly half of congress being millionaires, it's easy to see how the gap in understanding, in credibility can grow between congress and the people they're trying to represent. >> reporter: members of congress only have to report broad ranges of assets. all four congressional leaders appear to be millionaires, some many times over. democrat nancy pelosi is worth between $6 and $196 million. republican mitch mcconnell, between $10 and $44 million. democrat harry reid between $3 and $10 million. speaker john boehner has the

least money, between $2 and $6 million. one explanation for the increasing wealth in congress, is that running for office takes so much time and money, it favors wealthy candidates. but there's also evidence that politicians are getting richer while in office. professors at georgia state found that both senators and congressmen did significantly better than the market when they traded stocks. >> they're in a position to do great things for themselves, and there's a lot of evidence that suggests that that's exactly what they're doing. >> reporter: why do you think they're doing so much better than the rest of us? >> i think they're trading out information that we don't have. >> reporter: an analysis by the "washington post" suggests the increasing gap between rich and poor, shown in this graph, correlates with the increasing polarization of congress. and all of that serves to alienate an already disillusioned public. lisa myers, nbc news, washington. when we come back, tricks of the trade to make it through a

challenging economy.

the residents of one new england city are taking an old school approach to help their friends and neighbors get through these tough times. like a lot of places, some folks in portland, maine, don't have the cash to get all the goods and services they need. so instead, they're using their time and talents and trading places. we get the details tonight from nbc's ron mott. >> the jobs number today was awful.

>> the economy has been softening, and that's the worry here. >> there's new movement today on the foreclosure mess. >> reporter: in today's tough economy, making the most of what's in your wallet is a challenge. so in communities across the country, folks are putting a modern twist on the age old barter system. >> average people are getting together to trade services using time as a currency. and this is a way of neighbors helping neighbors, outside of the cash economy. >> reporter: the movement is called hour exchange. that's h-o-u-r. and here in picturesque portland, maine, time really is money. with 750 members, this group trades talents and tasks, building up hours to swap for services later on. >> people who might say, i'm not very good at -- >> everybody has skills. everybody has skills, just -- period. if the only thing you can do in the whole world is bake cookies, there's a place for you, man. >> reporter: no matter the skill, it's give an hour, get an hour back.

>> no cracks. >> christine banks time winterizing steven's basement. jennifer earned an hour of free health care. and across town, a seamstress is making a costume for 8-year-old ella, daughter of musician monique barrett. >> i'm busy, raising two kids and getting some of the things that i need that i don't have cash to pay for. >> reporter: more than just an exchange of time and talent, members say this movement is really about building communities. every month they hold a pot luck dinner, which typically leads to more exchanges. organizers caution the system won't and shouldn't replace a cash economy, they say it does empower people by giving them options without ever spending a penny. >> i offer music as a service. >> reporter: and monique's performance at this gathering, she's offering music for a future trade. that's music to everyone's ears. ron mott, nbc news, portland, maine. history was made on a football field in new orleans.

>> putback, 87 yards, free throw. touchdown! >> saints quarterback drew brees broke dan marino's 27-year-old record for passing yards in a single season, during a 45-16 romp over atlanta. his 5,087 yards passing are three better than the old mark, and he still has one regular season game left to play. up next here tonight, what's all the fuss about? he's a worldwide sensation, sleeping right through his moment of internet stardom.

finally tonight, meet the web's newest viral superstar. millions of hits on youtube, folks from around the world following every nap, every yawn and stretch, every roll on his belly. his name is siku, a popular bear cub -- a polar bear cub being cared for around the clock by a group of zookeepers in denmark. here's nbc's michelle kosinski with his story. >> reporter: from the dark frozen north comes quite possibly the cutest, warmest, furriest creature with his tongue sticking out, that nature can manage to produce. >> right now, he's just a fine

little ball. >> reporter: a baby polar bear named siku, which means sea ice in greenlandic. he was born in denmark last month. and when momma polar bear could not produce milk, which is common in captivity, it was time for zookeepers to take over the job. >> without mother's milk, he would have died three days after he was born. and he took to the bottle straightaway. so it's been a success from day one. >> reporter: around the clock, tending to his every tumble and grumble, making sure his potbelly doesn't get in his way. at a hungry seven pounds now, he's doing great. those big fuzzy feet are a reminder that there's a giant bear in there waiting to come out one day, that will be 100 times his size, at a half a ton. calls to mind one other famous polar bear, yes, knut. the superstar of the berlin zoo who inspired songs and, of

course, merchandising before becoming a little too enormous to snuggle. poor knut died in march of encephalitis, only four years old. but in captivity, these well cared for bears can live 40 years. it's believed there are only 25,000 of them left in the world. >> the sea ice melts and then the polar bears actually die of starvation because they can't catch any seals. so we're using him as an ambassador for what's happening in the arctic. >> reporter: in a few years, breeding time. >> he may be having a few trips abroad to visit female polar bears. >> reporter: already a darling of the internet. being called unbearably adorable. the little polar bear, who doesn't even know he's melting hearts by the millions. michelle kosinski, nbc news, london. that's our broadcast for this tuesday night, thanks for being with us, i'm lester holt in tonight for brian. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com varks good evening and thank you very much for joining us. >> raj and jessica are off tonight. we begin with good news for your wallet. aap survey of economists shows a lot of optimism heading into 2012, a thermometer that measures consumer confidence is up. in november the index was at 55, but by december the